This is a guest post by Kamila Miller, Marketing Manager at booking protection platform SUPERHOG.
For a lot of people out there, a property is their most valuable asset. If you’re renting out your main property or a holiday home on Airbnb and other online rental platforms (VRBO, Booking.com etc.), then you will be well aware that there are certain risks that come with renting your property to strangers.
That’s why you need to be aware of some tips that make safeguarding your Airbnb easier. So, you can ensure that everything goes according to your plan and you can minimize the risks as much as possible.
Table of Contents
What Are 6 Tips for Safeguarding Your Airbnb?
1. Know who you’re renting your property to
The biggest issue that the short term rental sector and platforms like Airbnb and VRBO face, is trusting that other people will not be reckless in your property. Trusting a stranger is the number one concern that you may have when it comes to safeguarding your Airbnb.
That’s why we created our trust platform SUPERHOG. We scan, screen and flag guests using our proprietary algorithm in order to avoid parties, fraud, chargebacks, crime and potential damage.
We examine different parameters to evaluate the risk level of the guest and then provide suggestions on how to manage the booking.
We check for:
• High-risk guests
• Local guests
• Bad behaviour
• Parties and troublemakers
• House rules compliance
• Fraud
• Escort & criminal activity
• ID fraud
• Third party bookings
• Compromised accounts
We also back every booking between SUPERHOGS with a FREE damage deposit and our £1M guarantee, so Airbnb hosts can rest easy knowing that we’ve got their backs if anything does unfortunately go wrong.
You can find out more about how we can help you or your business by visiting Superog’s website.
2. Never accept one night bookings
Another tip for safeguarding your Airbnb is preventing one night booking from happening. Although you may want the business, accepting one night bookings may end up costing you significantly more than you will make. One night bookings, more often than not, mean one thing: parties.
Every host’s worst nightmare, parties hosted in your Airbnb are definitely something you don’t want to have to deal with. Mitigate the risk by avoiding one night bookings and by stating clearly in your house rules that no parties are allowed.
3. Take a deposit
Taking a deposit is a great way of ensuring that guests will be careful at your property. Make it clear to them that you will be holding the deposit until after you have performed your checks and that any damages they cause will be taken from their deposit.
Deposits can sometimes be off putting for guests, so if you’re finding that this isn’t helping with bookings, why not check out SUPERHOG solution by visiting our deposits page.
4. Inform your neighbours
As well as being the decent and respectable thing to do, you should inform your neighbours that you are intending to rent your property on Airbnb. If you don’t, you risk your neighbours shutting down your operation by complaining if you haven’t told them and your guests get a bit rowdy. They might also report you if people are constantly coming and going and they haven’t been informed.
Your neighbours can also be a great help if you have warned them because they will be able to alert you if a party breaks out or any illegal activity takes place.
5. Install a keyless access system
Keyless entry systems make your property more secure for short-lets, and remove the hassle of key handovers. Digital keys can’t get lost like physical ones, so you’ll always know exactly who has access to your home, and you can revoke keys in an instant too, if you ever had any reason to do so.
For safeguarding your airbnb rental, you can keyless entry systems allow you to send each guest a code that is unique to their booking. It allows you to keep the property safe from unwanted visitors.
6. Make sure you have the right insurance!
Even though we’ve put this last on this list, having the right insurance is crucial to safeguarding your Airbnb. If you haven’t notified your home insurance provider that you are using the property as a short term rental, this could invalidate your current home insurance, meaning that if you then had to make a claim, your policy would not cover you.
A short term rental is classified as a business activity and is not usually covered by regular home insurance, so make sure you check with your insurance provider.
Once you have checked with your provider, you’ll need specialist cover for your Airbnb. There are lots of options out there, so you would be wise to shop around and find one that gives you the best price.
We also provide insurance products specifically for Airbnb and other short term rentals. We offer hosts insurance on a pay-per-stay basis, so you only have to pay for cover on the days that people are in your property, and cover is put in place automatically by our automated system.
You can find out more by visiting GUARDHOG. (We can only provide insurance to UK hosts)
